PREVIEW: KINGS PLACE FESTIVAL

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AS YOU’D expect from one of the world’s great cultural cities, London is not without its fair share of arts festivals. Not many of them, however, enable you to see world-class performers for a mere £4.50. Just one in fact, and it’s running until Sunday at Kings Place, the multi-arts venue in King’s Cross which opened two years ago.

Kings Place, which mixes offices with state-of-the-art performance spaces, cafes and galleries, was the brainchild of commercial property developer Peter Millican, and has become a cornerstone of the development of the King’s Cross redevelopment. Its 400-seat concert hall has arguably the finest acoustics of any classical music space in the city, while its galleries, atrium and other spaces have played host to every kind of musical and artistic venture from around the globe – as the festival programme reflects.

With 100 performances over four days, it includes classical recitals of Beethoven, Bach and Purcell, folk and jazz concerts, spoken word, even a “junk band” using instruments made of found bits of scrap. Combine the good value with the venue’s restaurants and galleries – currently hosting an exhibition of David Bailey photographs – and you can make a weekend of it.

“It’s trying to give people a taste of what the place is about all the year round,” says Millican. “You can go to many concerts throughout the weekend for very little money and experiment with things that you might not be used to.”